


so at sunrise we moved on

by SafelyCapricious



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Captivity, F/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 10:09:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5371391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kidnapped for her scientific knowledge, civilian Jemma Simmons is not terribly pleased to be shoved into a jail cell that already has occupants. Two tall, dark and handsome occupants, at that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so at sunrise we moved on

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: Birth Grant Ward/Jemma Simmons/ Brock Rumlow
> 
> I vaguely intend to continue this, but for now I'm calling it done. Weeee!

“Oh, fuck.” Jemma isn’t one to use coarse language when there are so many other alternatives, but in this case she feels very strongly about how important the force of such a word properly encapsulates the situation.

 Her guard – guard? Kidnapper? Hostage taker? The muscle? – of course, doesn’t know how uncharacteristic the language use is and just laughs and mumbles something no doubt rude under his breath. Of course, it’s in Russian so she can’t be sure.

She tries to put her heels down, because she has full appreciation for the sorts of drugs these men have been dosing their prisoners with, but he doesn’t even seem to notice as he propels her into the cell.

One of the men waiting there catches her, his shackles clinking cold and hard against her back as he steadies her.

“Are you okay?” the one not holding her asks, but she’s too busy trying to find a sign that they’ve been injected with one of the toxins to respond. The worst one, the one that will have them tearing her limb from limb and then each other, leaves the faint smell of anise around the wound and –

 “Uh, is she sniffing my neck?” His voice is rumbly against her chest where she’s braced herself to get the proper height to check, and then she’s pulling his sleeve up so she can check there. He seems mostly bemused and simply lets her as she misses the silent conversation between the two men.

 Once she’s assured herself that no, this one, at least, hasn’t been injected with B3a, she allows herself to relax – and then she forces herself to take a step back because she doesn’t actually know either of these men and cuddling into one of them might give the wrong impression.

 He lets her go easily, keeping one hand on her arm to make sure she’s steady until she’s stepped back, and then he lets his arm drop with another set of clinks from his shackles.

 She gets the first good look of both men, no longer just blurs of dark hair and light skin and – wow. They are both very good looking. They have similar coloring and seem to be on the same shaving schedule, but otherwise don’t look similar. The one who caught her has rougher features, short dark hair and scruff, but there’s something kind about his eyes even if he looks like the sort of man who could probably kill you. The other has the highest cheekbones Jemma has ever seen in real life – he looks like he could be a model he’s so pretty, though there’s something sharp about his smile that makes her think he’s probably not quite what he looks like.

 He also looks oddly familiar and she takes a moment to stare at him and try to place where she knows him from. “I’m sorry,” she finally asks, “have we met before? You look very familiar.”

 He arches an eyebrow. “I think I’d remember a girl sniffing me to say hello.”

 And yeah, that look about him was clearly just sarcasm waiting to come out. She waves a hand through the air. “Oh, that’s not normal. But I know the sorts of drugs they have on hand here and while most of them are _deeply_ unpleasant, the only one that would cause immediate damage to me if you’d been injected with it leaves an aroma of anise behind.”

 He tilts his head and she can see how still he’s keeping his hands to keep his shackles from making noise. “Don’t you need to check to see if I got injected then?” His grin sends a warm jolt through her and she forces herself not to retreat. She can see how much slack he has on his chains and she’s safe where she is from him – there’s nowhere in the cell where one of them can’t reach her, but at least _he_ can’t reach her just now.

“No,” she draws the word out and glances at the first man to see he’s watching their interaction curiously, but he doesn’t look more dangerous than he did a moment ago, and he offers her a small smile. She returns it and looks back to the second man. “Because as long as I’m not the only one injected, you’re more likely to go after the bigger threat. Which isn’t me.”

The first man makes a hand motion that she can hear but not see, and it’s done by the time she’s turned her head to look back at him. “You seem to know a lot about what drugs they have.” 

 She looks between the two again, the second man is looking at her like she makes sense now and she’s not sure what that means. “Yes?” she tries, and then when their expressions darken she realizes what they might be thinking and holds out her hands. “I’m not one of them! I was – my friend is a hacker and she was worried about some of the chemicals this company was purchasing through shell corporations so she sent me the list and I don’t know if that’s how they found me or if they already knew about me but then _I_ was kidnapped and they wanted me to make this drug for them – but I don’t care how convincing the science fiction you’re reading is, a translation drug _is not_ possible and now I’m here?”

That is not quite the story. It's certainly the _truth_. She's too bad a liar to try anything else, but the actual story involves Skye calling her in the middle of the night, Fitz drugged with something and her managing to work up a cure before his heart stops. After that, Fitz shared details of where he’d been and Skye had hacked from there and well.

 She hopes that Fitz and Skye are at a better safe house than the one she’d been nabbed from. Skye had sworn up, down and sideways that this Melinda would keep them safe, but they’d split up for supplies and Jemma had barely made it to the first meeting place before the goons had grabbed her so she had her doubts.  But, of course, if Skye and Fitz _are_ captured they’d, no doubt, be appearing in dire straights to encourage Jemma to do her work so…She is choosing to remain optimistic.

 And she realizes she’s been quiet for far too long when she looks up and the men are clearly finishing _another_ wordless conversation. The second man is nodding, eyes intense, and the first man has a slightly incredulous look on his face but seems to shrug his acquiescence.

 The second man shifts his weight and his gaze swings back to where Jemma is standing. He’s smiling now, and she’s struck again both by how pretty he is and how familiar he looks. She considers him, and she thinks she almost has it before he’s speaking again. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

 She bristles slightly at the endearment. “You can call me Dr. Simmons.”

His face clears totally – and then she sees him pop his thumb out of joint like it’s nothing and he’s free of his shackles. She takes a stumbling step back and hits the wall, and the first man sighs and pulls a thin metal rod from somewhere and starts fiddling with his own shackles.

 “I’m Grant Ward, my partner here is Brock Rumlow. We’re with SHIELD.” She’s barely taking his words in because he’s massaging his thumb back into joint and, oh dear, that is...That should not be attractive. His smile is sharp and finally, finally she remembers seeing him around – he kept showing up in the coffee shop she worked at while she was getting her second PhD!

 Brock, if that’s actually his name, gets his cuffs taken care of and steps forward, punching Grant’s shoulder. “Hey, lay off, she’s scared.”

She wants to object, she's not  _scared_ , she's just concerned that he might have been stalking her and is now here - but her mind is too busy coming up with reasonable theories for her to formulate a reply.

Grant takes a step back, which Jemma appreciates because he is very intimidating, especially smiling like that.

Brock takes a step forward, hands out peaceably, and she’s reminded of how calm and steady he was while she sniffed him for the chemical and, well, she’s not sure she wants to trust him, but he seems less dangerous than Grant the potential stalker at this point. “Sorry, my friend here failed the not being a creepy motherfucker training. We work for SHIELD, we’re the good guys. We were investigating, here, trying to see what they were doing with the drugs but…if you have the information about them…?” he trails off, eyes hopeful, and he hasn’t made a move to touch her or intimidate her more than his rugged good looks manage on their own.

She wets her lips, not sure how to respond, when Grant speaks again. “Besides, SHIELD wanted to recruit you before, but they were worried about your age and forcing you into something dangerous. But since you’re already here.” His smile seems more amused and less sharp than earlier, and he shrugs and practically twinkles at her. “I’m willing to bet you’ll get a job offer, if you want one.” He winks and leans back against the wall as far away from her as he can get. "It has some pretty nice perks."

She bites her lower lip and gestures at the bars of the cage. “That’s…lovely. But we are still stuck here – Oh.” The physics of breaking the lock so easily with two discarded shackles makes sense but it’s still – that involves a lot of upper body strength. That is very...“Um.” She tries to swallow in a suddenly dry throat and not consider other applications of that kind of brute strength.

Brock gently rests his hand on her arm and smiles. “We won’t let anything happen to you, okay?”

She’s not sure why, but she’s inclined to believe him. She even accepts Grant’s hand when he offers to assist her over the rubble.

By the time they’ve made it out of what she can only think of as an evil lair, her shirt is sticking to her and though she’s sure most of it is fear sweat she’s strangely invigorated and, if she’s being honest, she feels like a new person. She’s been reborn into someone new and the previously terrifying presence of Grant and Brock is just comforting and –

She’s happy to sign her life away to SHIELD, still wedged between them, as she babbles scientific theory about the various chemical components to a series of mostly terrified scientific agents.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find my writing tumblr [here](http://capriciouswrites.tumblr.com/). <3 Prompts are always welcome! Come say hi!


End file.
